Jim Allister

Jim Allister (2 April 1953-) was the leader of the conservative Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party of Northern Ireland from 7 December 2007 and a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly from North Antrim from 5 May 2011, succeeding Declan O'Loan.

Biography
Jim Allister was born in Crossgar, County Down, Northern Ireland on 2 April 1953 to a Presbyterian family of Ulster Scots. He graduated from the Queen's University of Belfast with a bachelor's degree in constitutional law, and he became a lawyer in 1976. He was a member of the Democratic Unionist Party from the start, and he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 as the assemblyman from North Antrim. In 1985, he opposed the treaty signed between the United Kingdom and Ireland that allowed for Ireland to have a role in governing Northern Ireland, and he led street protests against the treaty. From 1987 to 2004, he left politics to work as a lawyer, and he would rejoin the DUP in 2004 as a Member of the European Parliament before founding the Traditional Unionist Voice party in 2007 due to his opposition to the DUP and Sinn Fein forming a coalition government. Allister would be elected to the NIA in 2011, leading the TUV party.